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Modifying metadata of DSLR scans of film negatives

Started by mlj77, June 30, 2020, 11:07:12 PM

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mlj77

I am scanning my collection (a few thousand images)  of negatives (and slides, and prints) with my digital camera.

The metadata reflects the digital camera info and current date and not the original film camera or original create date or the fact that this is a transformed copy of an image.

Ideally, I would like to add the original info (camera, lens, original date, film type, etc) to the DNG file upon loading and converting from the new RAW images when importing into Lightroom.   
Less ideally would be modifying the metadata before importing and least ideal would be modifying after importing. 

Question:  I'm not the first one to arrive at this point,  is there a standard for metadata for scanned/copied photos?   What metadata fields should be altered, added, or maintained?
Question:  Can new fields be added to metadata or can I only modify existing fields?

In both Lightroom and Bridge I have found ways of modifying the create date but not in a template or preset.   Many of the fields (camera make and model for example) do not seem able to be overwritten in Lightroom. 

Ideal workflow:
1. Capture the digital images of a batch of negatives, collecting RAW files on a SDHC card.  (I have a good but manual process for this)
2. Load the RAW files into Lightroom Classic applying:
      a. Metadata preset (with some fields modified and new fields added to reflect information relevant to the original film image capture and current scanning process, preferably according to an accepted standard)
       b. Converting to a DNG (a basic import option in Lightroom)
       c. Applying an appropriate camera raw develop preset and converting to a positive.  (This was the easy part, already prepared)
       d. Writing the DNG to a folder organized around the original (not current) year, month, and day.
3. I can tag and add keywords later or as part of step 2a.

My current workflow does all of the above except 2a and 2d puts the DNG in a currently dated folder.

Thanks in advance for any help or guidance.







StarGeek

Quote from: mlj77 on June 30, 2020, 11:07:12 PM
Question:  I'm not the first one to arrive at this point,  is there a standard for metadata for scanned/copied photos?   What metadata fields should be altered, added, or maintained?

There's no separate standard for data about the original source of the film.  Some people edit the various tags to reflect the original if know.  Some just add it a general field such as Description.

QuoteQuestion:  Can new fields be added to metadata or can I only modify existing fields?

It depends.  Some fields can be edited and created.  Most of the EXIF, IPTC, and XMP tags fall into this category, but not all.  Some can only be edited if they already exist.  This applies to most (all?) MakerNotes.  Then their are others that cannot be edited or created.  For images, this would mostly be tags that are properties of the file such as image dimensions or file size.

The full list of tags can be found on the Tag Names page.  There are 10s of thousands of them.  You can also check the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard to see the most common tags.  Both Bridge and Lightroom will let you edit most of these.

QuoteMany of the fields (camera make and model for example) do not seem able to be overwritten in Lightroom.

In the case of RAW files such as NEF or CR2 (not sure about DNG), this is to protect the file.  In many cases, if the Make or Model is changed, it will prevent the image from being rendered properly, as there are small differences in the way RAW files are written depending upon the camera.
* Did you read FAQ #3 and use the command listed there?
* Please use the Code button for exiftool code/output.
 
* Please include your OS, Exiftool version, and type of file you're processing (MP4, JPG, etc).

Masa

When digitizing negatives convert your RAW files to DNG with Adobe Bridge.
Then I have used this exiftool command to the DNG files:
exiftool -exif:all= -AllDates= -DateCreated= -make= -model= -rating= -photoshopthumbnail= -OriginalRawFileName= It would be maybe useful to keep all Lens information to the DNG files. But I don't recommend to keep lens information of digitizing device in edited final master photo file.